From Staff Reports

WOODFIN, N.C. — Twenty months after Helene, “thousands of pounds of PVC pipes linked to international pipe manufacturer IPEX continue to be removed from the French Broad River,” according to local environmental groups, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on June 17

“The ongoing cleanup has raised questions about accountability and enforcement, as nonprofits say they have spent significant time and taxpayer resources removing debris that washed into the river during the storm,” News 13 added.

Meanwhile, the backstory and current issues surrounding what some critics are calling “this ongoing environmental crisis” involve the following claims and events:

• Massive industrial pollution: IPEX products represent up to 40 percent of the overall debris being recovered from the river downstream of Woodfin, and account for as much as 80 percent of the debris in certain heavily impacted areas near the source. The heavy piping has been carried over 70 miles downstream into Douglas Lake in eastern Tennessee. 

• High cleanup costs: Removing the tangled, buried, and water-logged pipes is highly technical and labor-intensive. Nonprofits like MountainTrue estimate that clearing the IPEX debris has consumed approximately 44,000 labor hours and cost an estimated $1.1 million in taxpayer-funded resources. 

• Corporate silence and frustration: Nonprofit advocates have publicly stated that IPEX —the largest employer in Woodfin — has effectively stonewalled them. Groups have hosted community meetings in an attempt to pressure the company into assisting with the cleanup, but IPEX has largely been absent from broader river recovery efforts. IPEX has countered by stating they complied with FEMA assessments, and a post-storm HAZMAT team confirmed no chemical leakage on their property. 

• Pre-storm warnings: Reports indicate that Buncombe County’s floodplain management raised compliance red flags regarding IPEX’s unsecured pipe storage in the Special Flood Hazard Area nearly a year before Helene hit. The county requested the pipes be anchored or removed from the floodway, which nonprofit watchdogs claim, were never properly addressed.